Book excerpt: The core of the book focuses on tragic costume in its original performance context of fifth-century Athens, but the implications of subsequent uses in Roman and more recent performances are also taken into consideration.Most importantly, the reader is invited to think about how tragic costume worked as a language in ancient performance and was manipulated physically and verbally in order to create meaning. Elements of this language are shown through a series of test cases from a range of ancient tragedies. All ancient passages are given in translation and the book includes a glossary of terms.